


On Gavin David

by Kennel_Boy



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Essays, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-16 20:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16960860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kennel_Boy/pseuds/Kennel_Boy
Summary: A few thoughts about one of the side-characters fromThe Magnificent Seven.





	On Gavin David

I found Gavin to be an interesting figure among Rose Creek’s background characters. He was an easy fellow to overlook, initially: he was running one of local pleasure spots, and was relatively well-off compared to the rest of Rose Creek because of it. When we first met him, he was entreating people to compromise with the villain, and we’re lead to assume that at least part of his profits were coming from the patronage of Bogue’s men (whether Blackstones or miners); he was a bit fussy and ineffectual, and probably had more book sense than wisdom (because seriously, dude, what percentage of your clientele do you expect will get the reference to “Elysium”?). He’s the sort of character the audience is trained to dismiss, especially in an action picture about manly dudes doing violence.

But here’s the thing about Gavin: he stayed. He wasn’t looking forward to a fight; he was initially aghast at the idea. He wasn’t a farmer; he didn’t have the same skin in the game as the people who were looking to lose their homes and livelihoods if Bogue had his way. He was, arguably, working against his best interests by joining the fight instead of hopping onto the same stagecoach as his parlor girls and coming back when the dust settled. The Elysium would have been mostly catering to whatever transient population Rose Creek had, so it wouldn’t even have hurt his business much if the locals shunned him once he came back (not that he seemed to be Mr Popularity anyway).

Gavin could easily have gotten out of the whole nasty business with his skin relatively intact, no matter who ultimately won. But he still bucked his own self-interest after he saw firsthand how far Bogue was willing to go in order to get his way. He trained with the other townsfolk, set ambushes, and ultimately died defending Rose Creek. And I think that was a really nice job on the part of creative team, that we saw the not just the courage of the larger-than-life characters who were drawn to Rose Creek by circumstance, but also of the locals who stood and sacrificed when they had less to lose than their neighbors.


End file.
